The Project

In September 2009, the Cities of Woodland and Davis established the Woodland-Davis Clean Water Agency (WDCWA), a joint powers authority, to implement and oversee a regional surface water supply project. Construction on the Regional Water Treatment Facility began April 2014 and was completed in July 2016. The Cities began using surface water in June 2016. Read our Frequently Asked Questions for more information.

About the Project

The regional project will replace deteriorating groundwater supplies with safe, more reliable surface water supplies from the Sacramento River. Once complete, the project will serve more than two-thirds of the urban population of Yolo County, CA. It will also serve UC Davis, a project partner.

Primary Project Goals:

Provide a new water supply to help meet existing and future needs

Improve drinking water quality

Improve the quality of treated wastewater

Project Detail

Q: How much is an acre foot?A: 325,851 gallons. That's enough to:

cover a football field with one foot of water

supply two typical families with enough water for one year

Project plans include a jointly-owned and operated intake on the Sacramento River (WDCWA in partnership with RD 2035), raw water pipelines connecting the intake to a new regional water treatment plant, and separate pipelines delivering treated water to Woodland, Davis and UC Davis. Improvements to existing water supply systems will vary for Woodland and Davis and will include facilities such as distribution pipelines, water storage tanks and booster pump stations.

The project will divert up to 45,000 acre-feet of water per year from the Sacramento River. Water rights were granted in March 2011, and will be subject to conditions imposed by the state. Water diversions will be limited during summer and other dry periods. A more senior water right for 10,000 acre feet was purchased from the Conaway Preservation Group to provide summer water supply. Groundwater will continue to be used by Woodland and Davis during when demand for water cannot be met with surface water supplies alone.

The water treatment facility will be constructed to supply up to 30 million gallons of water per day, with an option for future expansion to 34 million gallons per day. Of that amount, Woodland's share of treated surface water will be 18 million gallons per day, with Davis' share at 12 million gallons per day. Approximately 5.1 miles of pipeline will transport "raw" water from the surface water intake on the Sacramento River to the water treatment plant located south of Woodland (see map). From there, the treated water will travel 7.8 miles via pipeline to Davis, and up to 1.4 miles to Woodland.

Project Cost

Project development and implementation is expected to cost $279.2 million. The bulk of the project will be funded through customer water rates. Actions to reduce Project cost impacts to customers, included:

Partnering with Reclamation District 2035 to jointly finance, construct, own, and operate the water intake facility.

Awarding a Design-Build-Operate (DBO) service contract for the construction of project facilities. The Agency selected CH2M HIll, a highly-qualified contractor, to design, build, operate and maintain the water treatment facility. This will result in lower construction costs and fixed costs for operations for up to 15 years.

Appropriately sizing the water treatment facility based on detailed studies of current and future anticipated demand for water.